Showbiz Pizza Place had pizza, arcade games, and weird animatronics. They eventually got bought out by Chuck E Cheese.
Before downtown became all gentrified and college hipsterish and the city tore down a big chunk of the public housing to build restaurants and entertainment and condos, I would ride my skateboard and get high around some of our most dangerous hoods. That counts , yes? No?
Woolworth - (eventually became footlocker) you were able to get everything from clothing to school supplies - gaming - jewelry ect & you could put anything on layaway lol
D.r. house parties that would last till 6 in the morning - ( @CuddleBarista1 am I lying? Lol) those are non existent now, they don’t make them like they used to
In my neighborhood there used to be the most delicious authentic Cuban restaurant that was 50’s theme that everyone loved, no longer exist & there was an iconic movie theater that goes back pre war to when the community was Jewish & Irish … they took it down last year & I just couldn’t believe they would take such a historic landmark down.
I remember going to all kinds of restaurants and shops after 8pm. Now everything closes at 8pm 😟
Thinking of when I was a kid though video game arcades with pinball, etc were pretty cool . I don’t see any of them around here anymore
Record stores and arcades for sure arent around anymore like they used to be . A record store my friends owned here used to have punk shows inside their store lol I remember seeing bands AFI , Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Swingin Udders play back when nobody knew who they were .
There is a fun place up the road @Ohiomike with all the old arcade games and like 8 pinball machines . You pay 12 bucks and get unlimited play all day . Kids under certain age are less. They give you a wrist band and you can leave and come back all you want. Awesome place.
@pmvines oh man that place sounds awesome!
Yeah record stores were amazing too. We had one called Peaches and they were huge !
Red Barn Restaurants, The Ground Round, Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips, Sambo's
I remember the local chain Seventh Heaven in the Kansas City Metro area. These stores were very much bohemian in how they were ran and what they were about. It was a head shop/sex shop/record store and arcade all in one. They had posters, incense, sex toys, candy, hookahs, bongs, cigs and pinball all in one place. We lived at that store my senior year of high school. The last one remaining is a mile from my house and is down to being only the sex store part. But it is high end sex stuff.
@FunCartel that store reminds me of our waterbeds and stuff stores and Spencer’s stores 😉
How about Radio Shack and Blockbusters Video stores ?
Anyone who lives in Colorado may remember Celebrity Sports Center. It was owned by Walt Disney. It had an 80 lane bowling alley, more than 300 arcade games spread across 3 arcades, and a swimming pool with water slides. It permanently closed in 1994, was torn down, and now a Home Depot stands in its place.
Blockbuster that’s a good 1 @OhioMike … actually I really missed the charm of going / walking through the isles / being gravitated by the cover art ect … miss those days!
The Pike - Long Beach CA
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pike
So sad... Skate World, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor and the hydro tubes at Washington Square... Add to those the places I loved as a teen ~ The City Night Club, Confettis and Quality Pie. And in more recent closure history... Satyricon.😭
Truly ~ It would suck to be a teen in this city now.
@OhioMike ~ Come visit!! I'll take you over the hill to Bend, and we can visit the one and only remaining Blockbuster!!
The skating rink downtown. So many lock-ins and parties. It was the place to be.
Gosh, so many . . .
There was an amusement park a mile from where I lived, now it’s apartments. In fact, possibly all the amusement parks where I went as a kid no longer exist including Palisades Park.
Fun Junction.
I only got to go a couple times, but I loved the Spider. Nothing like being up in a little seat on top of a mechanical arm that spun and rotated like the Earth around the Sun—except faster, and going up and down too, with occasional reversals in direction. Looked more like a matte black robot octopus to me!
Now there's a liquor store and a taco shop there, which are both nice in their own way, I'm sure... but not quite the same.
There are so many...too many.
Years ago while out walking near the Columbia Gorge, I discovered a very secluded grassy hill with a splendid view of the Columbia River. It was a cozy little knoll surrounded by trees and wildflowers. When I began dating my beautiful future wife, we went there on a picnic. It was a perfect day and this little hill became our own special haven to picnic or to simply be alone together. We spent many happy hours on this little green hill. One wonderful, warm summer evening while watching the sunset, I asked her to marry me. She accepted and I was positively elated. I was so in love with her. We made love under the stars and I will never forget how beautiful she looked, lying naked in the grass, bathed in moonlight. She pointed to a shooting star and she was so happy. She was so lovely I really wanted to cry. After I lost her, I would return to our hill and reflect on her and the many blissful days and nights we had spent there. I would close my eyes and pretend she was sitting silently beside me. One year on her birthday, I decided to spend it on our hill. When I arrived I found the grassy knoll was gone, along with all the bushes, flowers and trees. The entire area had been cleared and bulldozed. I assume someone was building a house there. I was completely heartbroken. My true love was gone and now our special little sanctuary was gone. I went home and cried into my pillow.
The 1970s.
There was a Woolworth on lower Frederick St. on my island that mom would take us to once a month and during August to get school supplies for the new term
I went to a place called Malibu that was by the mall. Also had a location in Sharonville. They had some of the coolest games that was way better than today's garbage. They also had 2 different size go karts with a track. One car at a time and they timed ya to see how fast you could make it around.
Toys r us and Captain Andy's (a local Chuck e cheese ripoff). Toys r us had everything. Also the local arcade and when the mall was happening.
Borders book store. Roy Roger's
Kings table buffet......it is no more.😔..but wonderful memories 😊 after Sunday church we would all go there.
Alcatraz
@CuddleDuncan Ditto.
Fort Luton model museum.
Oh it was great, a rich model maker bought a Napoleonic fort in Kent and turned it into this amazing place. He turned the tunnels dug by french pows into these amazing set pieces. One moment you're admiring a huge model railway with miles of track, the next a huge battle scene between fantasy armies. Turn the corner and there's a room with a cyberman and a captured dr who. In a mustering yard he build a massive adventure playground with forts, a tank shaped climbing frame and fairy houses. There was a petting zoo and picnic area with amazing statues.
I really think between this place and movies like Time Bandits my imagination was forged.
@Blackadder ~ Finding a fond space gone is a bummer. Finding a sacred treasure gone and losing the love of your life... It must be both gut wrenching and profoundly heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing something so personal, beautiful and tragic. Sending you hugs and hopes of resiliency... 🫂💞
edits due to emotion made typos
Sonny’s, Jillian’s pizza, and my mental happy place
For the most part, except for ones that the average person can’t afford, manual transmissions are gone. Paddle shifters are not the same thing.
